Fairfax India Holdings Corp (FIH.U.TO)

(A Top Pick July 14/17. Up 5%.) Of all things in Fairfax, this one appeals to him. It gives the ordinary investor a way of getting into India. Also gives them a way of getting into a hands-on situation. Not just a portfolio of Indian stocks, but part of a creation/transformation of companies with some leaning towards environmental satisfying things. You need patience. When dealing with Prem Watsa, you know that you are dealing long-term with something like this. The stock is off a bit at the moment. Not a lot of interest in it.

He likes this. Hasn’t bothered to look at it because it is a marvellous creation by highly skilled people. Prem Watsa himself is originally from India. It’s not simply a fund holding Indian assets, it is inventing, contriving in a sense, and has bought out companies. Thinks it is going to continue to be very good.

CSU-T vs. FIH.U-T vs. GOOGL-Q. You have several different options here. He likes FIH.U-T’s exposure to India. He thinks India is one of the great overlooked growth stories. GOOGL-Q is one of the death stars. It has run to quite an extent. He thinks it has a good year to run yet. This is one that will be around in one form or another for a long time.

Not as familiar with this as he would like to be. It is denominated in US$s. He believes in Prem Watsa and what he is doing. The India story is really attractive, and he seems to be playing this properly. At an $0.80 dollar, you are better buying this then at a $0.72 dollar.

A fabulous way of buying into India through the Canadian market if you want to be there, and want to use the expertise of the Fairfax group. They are putting together corporations, and buying companies with a sort of chemical slant to them, but in an environmentally acceptable way. This ought to continue to do better.

A closed-end fund. Essentially, they are looking to own big stakes, almost like Warren Buffett style, businesses in India. She likes India a lot. It is one of the strongest stories.

An actively managed basket of Indian stocks. There is higher cost from the active management and from an index ETF. In the long run the currency has dragged a little on your returns. He thinks it will stabilize going forward. He thinks this will be a fantastic growth area of the world.

An ETF that holds Indian companies. There are 2 ways to play India. You can buy an ETF or you can go in and buy a particular stock. You may be buying things that the index doesn’t show, but that this company has access to.

This has been a smoking index. The trend has been up, and is a little parabolic right now, meaning it is a little overbought, but not hugely dangerous. It wouldn’t surprise him if it returned to near the trend line. There is nothing to not like with this particular fund.

Prem Watsa for a long time has wanted to build a major business in India. He knows that the key success factor in building a business in India is the partners that he partners with. If anyone can do it, Prem probably can. For anyone looking at international exposure, this is probably not a bad one to take a hard look at.

A closed-end fund, and it is India. It is the sort of magic touch of Prem Watsa. They buy big into very interesting growth companies in an amazing growth country. (Analysts’ price target is $19.25.)

If you buy this, you are really buying 2 things. Your faith in Prem Watsa and his ability to manage a more complex array of companies, and growth in India. The key to doing business in India is having the right partners or the right businesses. From a multiple point of view, this looks quite reasonable. For people looking for international diversification, this may be the way to do that.

This is really a bet on Prem Watsa and his management. He has been a very good manager and has wanted to build a presence in India for some time. The key to doing business in India is, who do you partner with. From what he has read, Prem has picked some very, very good partners. This is an economy that is growing and maturing, perhaps growing a little more slowly than what people had anticipated. If looking at something like this for a long term, he would certainly bet for Prem to be successful.

IPO’d in 2014. They raised $1 billion with the premise being they were going to take the money and buy public and private securities in India. They have made several transactions. It is going to evolve and they are probably going to raise additional money to make more acquisitions, however, it is tough to get a handle on because the businesses are relatively opaque and disclosure is not all that good. If anything, he would be inclined to wait for a pullback and buy it at a discount to NAV. However, if you are looking at this as an emerging market, he thinks the fundamentals are fine.

(Market Call Minute.) He would prefer owning the parent company of Fairfax Holdings.